Explore every episode of the podcast Keys

Here are fascinating answers to a deep and wide variety of life-related questions. Such great soul-searching inquiries are answered through the specific questions that were asked at lectures and Question & Answer sessions—Q&As, as they were called—held primarily in New York from 1957 through 1979 by Eva Pierrakos.

While Eva was the person who spoke, she did not claim to be the one who was speaking. Every two weeks, for over two decades, a group of people would gather with Eva, she would go into a trance, and a wise, caring and articulate being—who became known as the Guide—would begin to speak.

The Guide provided volumes of deeply spiritual and yet practical wisdom. Along the way, these teachings were named the Pathwork®, because the Guide so often refers to “being on the Path” and it is hard work to go on this Path. “The way,” he says in Pathwork Guide Lecture #11, “is steep and narrow and long.”

I have created this collection of my favorite Q&As to help clarify and illuminate this path we call life. For these remarkable Q&As have certainly been eye-opening for me. And as the Pathwork Guide teaches, to open our eyes and wake up is really the key to everything.

– Jill Loree

Pathwork Helper since 2011

Founder and manager of Phoenesse since 2015

This audio production of Keys is published by Phoenesse LLC with permission from the Pathwork Foundation.

What actually is religion?

Why are there are so many different religious concepts on Earth?

________

How do the different main religions continue their activities in the spiritual world? Do they fight? And how far can they influence human beings?

Even if one has little interest in organized religion, one can still have a longing for the atmosphere that can exist in a church—a feeling of awe standing in front of something that is higher. Is the experience of going to church really a true thing?

________

The Catholic Church has managed to survive until the present day, while the gnostic religions, which are more in accord with the Pathwork teachings, have not survived. Why is this?

So this is the reason for the decline and virtual disappearance of gnostic religion?

What is the Holy Ghost and what should be our relationship to it?

Why does Hindu philosophy not include the Fall of the Angels, as the Plan of Salvation does?

Is that perhaps the reason why the female aspect of God is recognized more there, and the male aspect of God more in the West, and that is why East and West ought to get together?

In general, what purpose does ritual serve?

________

In the traditional Scriptures of Judaism and Islam, the texts are specific regarding the consumption of fish, flesh, and fowl; it is commanded that “of their flesh shall we not eat.” But in the fifteenth verse of Matthew, Jesus said, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the man, but that which cometh out of the mouth.” Christianity, in fact, has no ban against pork, but during Lent, dietary restrictions are observed by Christians. So are the dietary laws based on that which is unclean, or on that which is holy?

So then what is the meaning of Lent and the counting of the days?

________

What about customs such as circumcision?

________

Most religions of the world use the motion of genuflecting. Many of them also use the two palms together. There are also the patterns created by the whirling dervishes. Do these movements have some inherent meaning?

Is it possible that these body positions bring about new connections in the body? For instance, if a person bows and puts his head below his heart, lowering his ego, is that position significant in some way?

________

Could you please explain the meaning of the sacrament of Holy Communion? Is it a ritual or is it more?

Will you explain the meaning of keeping the Sabbath holy in the face of our present-day obligations?

________

This night is the eve of the Sabbath. It also happens to be the eve of Yom Kippur which is the Day of Atonement. On such a night, in ancient Nazareth, it is likely that Jesus, as a Jew, would have been in the synagogue, chanting solemn prayers with his congregation. Yom Kippur is also designated as the Sabbath of Sabbaths. The word Sabbath is loaded with meaning and it appears frequently in Scripture. Jesus referred to it when he said: “The Sabbath was made for man.” What did he mean? And also, what is the significance of ritual in pursuit of the path toward God?

Yes, it is quite clear. Incidentally, the word Sabbath actually means “rest,” and it also means “seven.” I wonder if you could tie the two together.

Can you provide a spiritual explanation of sin and evil?

________

Why is it that all spiritual teachings in the past speak of sin instead of sickness or neurosis?

________

Is evil a condition which results from an actual fall from grace? And what is its relationship to Lucifer in the Old and New Testaments?

Could you explain what “true religion” is, as compared to the wrong attitude? Where does belief in God and his help come in?

But how can we go about it? This God-image is so embedded in us after so many decades of learning the false attitude. Wouldn’t prayer change too if we discarded this concept? Wouldn’t everything change?

What religion is farthest away from the truth?

One of the last words of Christ was, “Father, Thy will be done.” Taken as an example, this could have meant obedience, or it could have meant freedom. Which is it?

From what you say, it becomes clear that religion is a matter of each individual soul developing to its optimum point by way of search and self-realization. The churches have played a dominant role for many years, however, so it would seem that their function would eventually fall away. Is that correct?

________

Is a faith in God and love, without emotional maturity, possible?

[1979] Our world has recently been shocked by a mass suicide associated with a spiritual community led by Jim Jones in Jonestown, Guyana. Many of us have been examining our own feelings about this event, and many Workers have brought up their fears of being associated with our spiritual community in the light of this tragedy.

“The answer always lies within the self. For if it were otherwise, man would indeed be lost. The fact that he has himself as a key, which makes it so accessible and so possible to stop fear and to stop uncertainty, that is the beauty and the truth of creation. It is possible to know yourself.”

– Pathwork® Guide, Q&A #130

I would like to ask whether the Christ spirit is an all-pervading spirit like God or an individual spirit?

Here we are taught that salvation comes through work, through self-search, through effort and through the finding of images to be cast off. Today, a man who calls himself a “twice-born Christian” asked me whether I accepted Jesus as my personal savior, and that unless I did, I would not find salvation.

My question is: how are we to reconcile this Church-proclaimed doctrine of faith in salvation through another, with our work on the Path? And further, is this faith in a heavenly being who had become man sufficient for a mortal to share, through mysterious rites, in his divine life? Is this faith plus the sacraments sufficient to redeem us from the bonds of earthly guilt and earthly death and to awaken us to a new life which would mean eternal existence and blessedness?

There still is the one portion of my question which is unanswered, which has to do with whether or not a person can be saved through the medium of a Savior or through a person’s own efforts?

You said that when the obstructions are removed, faith follows. But I know people who have faith and still have a lot of obstructions.

What is the meaning of the “way of the cross,” its principles and its course of actions? How is it comparable to the Eastern concept, the one that follows the Buddha?

Will you tell us the spiritual significance of Good Friday, please?

Listen to Pathwork Guide Lectures #19-22 about the greater significance of his life and death in the entire Plan of Salvation at the end of this section on Jesus Christ.

I understand the Bible does not account for Christ’s life between approximately the ages of 12 and 30. I have read that during his teens and early twenties, roughly, Christ went through training in secret orders. Then he conducted a worldwide ministry before returning to the Middle East to conduct the last period of his life mentioned in the Bible. Is this true and would you give more details?

What is the role of the Virgin Mary from the spiritual point of view?

Christian religions place a lot of emphasis on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why is that?

I would like to ask if you could explain the miracle of Therese von Neumann* who has the stigmata that bleed every week; she has not eaten for years.

Does it necessarily mean that such a person is spiritually very highly developed?

________

I read a story in a current magazine about miracles. This story said that a child broke a wooden Madonna and in kissing the upper half, tears started coming out of the eyes of the Madonna. This was repeated in the presence of different witnesses. Do you wish to comment on this?

Has it to do with the spirit of the child in question?

How then was it possible that Jesus could perform many miracles, many times?

What about Christmas, with the displays of light, the story of Christ, the Christmas trees and the Christmas carols?

What is the inner reason for many Jewish people—even those who are otherwise quite open-minded and spiritually inclined—to be almost militantly against Jesus Christ? A similar reaction also exists in some Christians who strongly rebel against their early upbringing. What is the reason for this?

In the Gospel according to St. Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus is described as giving this final injunction to his disciples before parting with them: “All authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

The early Christians faithfully followed these words, seeking to convey the Gospel of salvation through Christ to the entire world, even at the risk of their lives. Much of the Christian church, to this day, takes these words very seriously as defining its mission.

The norm in spiritual circles is to not preach to others, but to respect each individual’s beliefs. Was the early church’s task different from ours today?

From the Pathwork Q&A on Salvation:

“I explained at length in what way the act of Jesus Christ constituted salvation for all the fallen beings, what his contribution was and how it opened the door and showed the way (Pathwork Guide Lectures #19-22). I do not have to repeat that now, for it is all on record and it is useless to take the available time for repetition. By rereading it, you will see that it was never implied or stated that the coming of Christ exempted the individual from personal work and effort. Quite the contrary is true.”

Following is an audio recording of these four important lectures.

Excerpt from lecture:

Now who is Christ? Some Christian religions claim he is God. This is not so, for he himself has said, as you can read in the Holy Scriptures, that he is not God. He is not the Father, or the Creator. Some say Jesus was just a wise man, a sage, a great teacher with great wisdom, not unlike a few others who have lived at other times in other countries. This is also wrong.

The truth is, my friends, whether you want to believe it now or not, that Jesus, the man, was the incarnation of the Christ. And this spirit is the highest and most exalted of all created beings. He is the first direct and inborn creation of God. His substance is the same as the substance of God.

All of you possess some of this substance which I call the higher self or the divine spark; it has to come out gradually through spiritual development. But no other created being has this substance in quite the same degree as the Christ. And there Is the difference.

Excerpt from lecture:

As I said in my last lecture, God put forth as His first creation the spirit of Jesus Christ and most of this divine substance is in Christ. Therefore, some religions refer to God the Father and God the Son. You can see that there is truth in this statement, although it is erroneous to consider them one and the same person.

After the spirit of Christ, many other creatures came into existence; so many that you could not count them with the numbers you have available in your world.

Once I was asked, “Why did God create these beings?  Being all-knowing, He must have realized that misery could result from it.”  This is indeed an important question which I would now like to touch on briefly.

Excerpt from lecture:

Since one of the most important divine aspects is free will or freedom of choice, this had to turn into its opposite too. The spirit who was the first to succumb to the temptation of abusing this power, the one who is sometimes referred to as Lucifer, Satan, or the Devil, who influenced others to follow him, would naturally have been the first one to inhabit the new world that came into existence.

This spirit had complete power over all those who followed him, and, contrary to God, he used this power. God gives the freedom of choice and this has deeper significance than most of you realize. With that freedom necessarily comes the possibility to abuse the given power and to use it contrary to the divine laws.

If no choice were available, there would be no freedom and no power. There can be no divine happiness, in fact, no divinity at all, if it cannot be attained or maintained by free choice. By the same token, the opposite of God and His laws must be the prohibition of free choice and the domination of the stronger over the weaker ones.

Excerpt from lecture:

On the earth sphere you have the possibility with your free will to develop and to decide which side to follow. In your own nature, you can of course find both currents:  the good current that once came from God in perfection and the evil current that was accumulated during and after the fall.

Between these two currents the conscious self stands, able to decide either to take the line of least resistance, which is always man’s lower nature, or to follow his higher self, which is the difficult and narrow path...

I should like to tell you what salvation by Jesus Christ really means. Very few people indeed realize its full significance, least of all the organized churches.

People have claimed to have had communications from the other side saying that reincarnation takes place only in certain instances. Can you confirm this?

________

Is it possible for anyone following such a path to reach a stage of development in this lifetime so that you would be lifted out of the cycle of returning?

Are the seeds of our hindrances and our blocks made in childhood?

The metaphysical bent within a person is God’s gift, because through it he or she has the opportunity to get closer to God, provided the quest is diligently pursued. Do the people who are chosen to have such a disposition earn it in an earlier incarnation or are they given this advantage as a test? And if they will not use the talent, will it not be given to them in the next incarnation?

What happens to the spirits who do not belong to the Plan of Salvation and are being prepared for incarnation? Are they subjected to this separation with their consent, without their consent, or in what way are they prepared?

Can we remember our present identity in the next life and are we going to work on our old problems?

________

When we are reincarnated, we have no memory of our previous lives. When we get to the Spirit World, after this life, do we then have the memory of previous lives?

The general teaching is that incarnations change from male incarnation to female and vice versa. Can you clarify this point?

Can you tell me if there is any spiritual significance or reason for the different races?

But is not the variety of different races and their trends part of the beauty of life?

________

I’m curious about the role or the mission of black people in this country today. Historically, this has been a very turbulent role, and it seems that there can be some answers to learn.

What is the average time between incarnations?

Is it necessary, in the development of the soul, to appear and be reincarnated on more than one planet?

________

Will a person who may be attached to his country come back to the same country, either as a spirit or in a next incarnation?

I understand that when we are incarnated on Earth we have certain limitations in our spiritual development. Is it possible to burst this, to go farther than the limitations which are set for us?

________

At one time you told us that it was easier to work on this Path here on Earth than in the Spirit World. Yet we know that our loved ones are developing too. They too, are working for their self-realization, and are helped by our work on ourselves. Could you explain how this works?

________

Can you tell us why the influx of the new Christ consciousness energy has accelerated the process of development?

How does heredity relate to karma and the plan?

________

When artists have really reached a very high level of artistic expression, have they attained that because they have also attained a high level of spiritual development and awareness? Do these things go together?

Scientists are now able to clone animals. What happens to the formation of a soul in the case of a mass-produced human species, where everyone would be exactly the same, in which thoughts and knowledge could come through a bodily process instead of through a mental process?

So when life is not produced in a human way but is produced in a scientific way, where the ingredients of the life organism is absolutely identical, is there a different soul for each of these beings?

Can you talk a little more about the spiritual meaning of the parent-child relationship?

If there are so many incarnations, why is it that we should work so hard in a given one?

The concept of reincarnation in the same life is very moving. In such a process, is the person aware of it? Are there any physical signs? Does it occur in sleep or in a waking state?

Is it possible that fear of life is really a fear of dying and reincarnating within this life—the process of giving up the old and moving on to the new?

I’d like to know whether my current crisis is actually a rebirth for me at this point?

Regarding the evolution of animals, is it right that the highest animal, such a nice gentle horse, becomes the lowest type of human being, such as a criminal?

What can an animal learn from having a disease?

________

Do animals killed for the purpose of being eaten go into the same sphere as a deceased pet?

What it is like for an animal to wake up after it has died? How is this with the group souls?

________

Do animals change from one incarnation to another? For instance, will a cat be a cat in all incarnations?

________

Do animals have karma?

________

Do animals have souls?

Mankind knows very little about the awareness of animals. So why is man considered higher on the evolutionary scale?

________

What role have pets such as dogs and cats have played in the spiritual development of people, and vice versa?

“We, in the world of God, are not interested in producing phenomena. We are interested in individual development, for this is the only key to everything.”

–Pathwork® Guide, Lecture #54

You say we should be in contact with the Spirit World of God, and that other spirits will harm us spiritually and even physically. But isn’t everything God’s world?

In Lecture #15 Influence Between the Spiritual World and the Material World, you spoke about the many spirits who are around a human being, spirits of darkness and higher spirits. Is our calling for them mainly conscious?

________

When bad things happen in life, is that due to the presence of dark forces?

________

Let us imagine that all humanity, meaning each individual, would follow the line of least resistance and give in to the Lower Self, and nurse it instead of fighting it. What would happen from your point of view?

Why was the name Lucifer, which means light-bringer, given for the satanic power? Where is its scriptural origin?

________

In Isaiah it is said that God created good and evil. Did God create the evil forces and the Luciferic powers too?

________

A friend of ours who is a follower of Rudolf Steiner’s teachings said that there are not only two “kingdoms,” heaven and earth, good and evil, but three. According to this concept the earth is ruled by a being that is not Lucifer or the devil, but Ahriman, who is the ruler of matter and who is supposed to be more dangerous than Lucifer. Is this true?

________

The souls in the lower spheres are supposed to suffer much pain. How is it then that Lucifer, who is the worst of all evil spirits, does not seem to suffer? Is this just?

Sometimes I become conscious of an entity near me. How can I tell if this is true or not?

________

Is it OK to contact spirits to ask them for help?

________

In what form do spirits who are still undeveloped see higher spirits?

Does everyone have the same potential for the development of the qualities of reason, will and emotion?

________

What are bodhisattvas?

What is the best way to get in contact with people in the Spirit World?

________

I would like to ask about restitution to loved ones in the Spirit World. Apart from what you told us we can do, can we dedicate certain actions to them, or how can we help them to understand that we have understood, that we want to make restitution?

________

We know that when we are asleep, often the Spirit World teaches us or communicates with us. Is there any way of remembering these communications? Is there a way of training oneself to be more open to receive them consciously?

________

It seems possible to use a Ouija board to train oneself to communicate with other entities. Would you say this is a good thing to do?

Why is it that one feels abandoned by God, that one finds oneself without assistance from the higher spheres, just when one goes through the most difficult times?

May I ask in this connection about Nostradamus who has prophesied some of these events? Isn’t that impossible to do, over 400 to 500 years?

So the prediction of Nostradamus for the end of this century does not have to come true?

So seers such as Nostradamus have insight into these records?

Would you please tell us more about guardian angels?

Are any of the guardians in between incarnations, or are they all out of the cycle of incarnations?

What is the place of the White Brotherhood in the evolution of consciousness throughout history, and their place in the future evolution of consciousness?